Lil Nas X recent appearance on HBO's The Shop: Uninterrupted is gaining traction after the star had to explain to a confused Kevin Hart, who has a tense relationship with the LGBTQ community over previous homophobic comments, just why he wanted to come out and fight anti-gay prejudice.
In a viral clip of the Tuesday episode (September 3), Nas is asked about his big decision to come out at the very end of Pride Month. "And with all that early success, you felt it was important to make an announcement recently?" marketing executive Paul Rivera asks the star, before Hart interrupts his response and says, "He said he was gay! So what?" At that point, the rapper clarifies that he wasn't "forced" to come out, but he did so because "growing up [he had been taught] to hate that sh*t." Seemingly confused to the idea of anti-gay prejudice, Hart interrupts him once again to ask what is there to hate, to which the rapper had to spell it out. "Come on now," he replied. "If you really from the hood, you know."
Lil Nas X went on to hit at any potential naysayers, who might have believed that he did so to push his chart-topper, "Old Town Road," even further. "If you doing this, like, while you're at the top, you know, it's, like, for real. It's showing that it doesn't really matter, I guess," he explained.
Hart was previously announced as the host of the 2019 Oscars, before receiving backlash for multiple homophobic tweets that he shared during 2009-2011. Afterward, the comedian tried to clarify his stance via Twitter, but that only made things worse, so he went on a press tour to apologize for his tweets and admit that he's confronted his previous biases.
Photo: Getty Images